Sound Effects

Matt Lauer: Welcome back to the Today Show! It is 8:35 on Tuesday and I’m here with the legendary sound effects master Charles Sweeney. Although you may have not heard his name, you’ve certainly heard his work. Charles has provided sound effects for over 250 movies and has even won two Oscars for his work in “Legends of the Fall” and “There Will Be Blood”. His latest movie is called “Two Peas in a Pod” and opens this Friday. Charles, thank you for joining us this morning.

Charles Sweeney: Thank you, Matt. It’s great to be here.

Matt: Now you’ve managed to capture some of the most life-like sound effects in Hollywood. Tell us, how do you do it?

Charles: Well I begin by watching the raw footage and then discussing with the director what kind of sounds I think may really take the scene to the next level, you know, make the viewer feel like he or she is right there. Then I go about capturing my sounds.

Matt: Let’s talk about the capturing for a moment; can you give us some examples of where you go to get these incredible sounds?

Charles: Absolutely. There’s a particularly gripping scene from “Jurassic Park” when the heavyset computer hacker gets sprayed with the poison spit from the Dilophosaurus.

Matt: Oh yes, I know exactly the scene you’re talking about!

Charles: Well to create the sound of the creature I took a regular housecat and put it in a shoebox and then I shook the shoebox very forcefully.

Matt: (momentarily stunned) …you…shake a cat inside of a shoebox?

Charles: Exactly. I give it four or five really good shakes. And the sound was what you heard in the film. It was a perfect fit.

Matt: (presses a finger to his earpiece) I’m…um.... we’ve….

Charles: Then you may remember the exciting fight sequence from the Matrix: Reloaded, where Neo is battling 100 Agent Smiths? Well to capture the whooshing sound of the metal pole he is using as a weapon, I hit a giraffe on the knees with a frying pan.

Matt: My God…

Charles: The key is to sneak up on the giraffe while it’s eating from a very tall tree. The difference between a startling hit versus a hit they see coming is easily discernible. But the surprised and pained cry of the giraffe provided the perfect sound capture for the metal pole.

Matt: Mr. Sweeney I must stop you—

Charles: Then there’s the torpedo sounds from Pearl Harbor. Do you know how I got those?

Matt: Please stop. (looking off camera) Can we go to commercial?

Charles: (ignoring matt) I dressed a raccoon in a diaper and a baby’s bonnet and then got a group of my friends to point and laugh at it very degradingly, to damage the raccoon’s self esteem. It made this moaning sound that was absolutely perfect for the scene!

Matt: (looking into the camera) We’ll be right back with—

Charles: (talking over Matt) Please keep in mind I don’t kill any of these animals. That’s barbaric! I just rough them up a bit. I give them something to think about when they go home, you know?

Matt: Mr. Sweeney, that is reprehensible. (motioning off camera) Can we get security here please?

Charles: There was this one time I planted some drugs on a squirrel and then ratted him out to the cops. When they were grilling him in the interrogation room he made this sound that we used in a scene in Jane Eyre. You just have to have an ear for this kind of thing. I think that—

(Two burly security guards appear on screen, and wrestle Charles Sweeney out of his chair and remove his microphone as he struggles angrily)

Matt: I want to apologize to our viewers, and remind you that the statements of our guest do not reflect those of us at the Today Show. 

Charles: (off camera) Don't act all high and mighty! Your ears are thanking me! Hey, you're hurting my elbow!

Matt: Please stay tuned after these words from Purina Dog Chow. (looking off camera) Well that seems a little ironic.